EW#13967 is a professional engineering company providing expert witness testimony to resolve complex oilfield cases. EW#13967’s litigation team has resolved numerous cases using field-tested engineering skills, graphics and animation.

Since 1995, the team at EW#13967 has become known within the industry as the "people to call" for assistance with accident investigations, blowouts and for injury and equipment damage liability analysis. We have provided expert witness services and graphics in a wide array of litigation cases, including Blowout Preventer mishaps, Bottom Hole Assembly failures, casing crew accidents, patent design disputes, breach of contract and numerous others.

We have experience in handling virtually every type of upstream oil & gas procedure, including Horizontal Drilling, Underbalanced Drilling, Rig Safety, Plugging and Abandonment, Reservoir Analysis, Production Engineering, Drilling Engineering and Operations, Environmental Engineering and Site Assessment, Economic Analysis and more.

EW#13967 has even developed its own Risk Mitigation Service for drilling operations. After careful and thorough reviews of wellsite conditions and geology, EW#13967 can provide a detailed Hazard Identification (HAZID) and Hazard Operations (HAZOP) analysis to identify inherent risks in a critical drilling program and ways to mitigate these problems.

We have experience in handling virtually every type of upstream oil & gas procedure. Please review our case histories, team qualifications and client list below to get a better feel for our history.


Case Histories

Personal Injury
1.) Underbalanced drilling on an oil well was in progress when a failure in a BOP stack element occurred. This resulted in a blowout causing extensive property damage and injuries to the crew.

2.) During Underbalanced drilling operations, the rubber sealing element in a BOP stack component failed, causing property damage and an alleged personal injury.

3.) A well blowout occurred while workers were trying to come out of a hole to make a bit change, when the well kicked. Workers tried to put the Kelly back on but were unsuccessful. When the well kicked, well was blowing sand, rocks and gas up through the crown and eventually ignited. A BOP installed on the well was not shut in. Plaintiff claimed foot injuries. Regulatory agency reported on defendant's right to dump waste material in specified area.

4.) While running casing in the hole, a joint of casing fell out of position during makeup and injured a member of the casing crew. The drill rig derrick was allegedly not centered over the hole, making the handling of casing hazardous.

5.) A roughneck (drilling rig worker) was allegedly injured while changing the rubber element on a rotating blowout preventer.


Property Damage

1.) EW#13967 Engineers were asked to utilize their experience in oilfield drilling and knowledge of wellsite equipment to testify what had caused a blowout and subsequent destruction of an oil well. Testimony involved clarifying drilling fluids, drillstring depth, describing downhole equipment and elaborating on alleged destructive elements that caused the fire.

2.) EW#13967 engineers were asked to review a well in Webb County,Texas, for possible product liability in regards to a 10,000 psi Shaffer blowout preventer that two pipe rams had reportedly failed in while trying to control a flowing oil & gas well.

3.) An oil and gas operator had initiated the turnkey drilling of a well. During that operation, a section of the bottom hole assembly (drilling jars) failed, allegedly causing a loss of money (profit) for the turnkey contractor.

4.) A tool failure was alleged to have caused the loss of a constructed wellbore.

5.) EW#13967 engineers were asked to review a well in Webb County,Texas, for possible product liability in regards to a 10,000 psi Shaffer blowout preventer that two pipe rams had failed in while trying to control a flowing oil & gas well.

6.) EW#13967 graphic designers illustrated a case involving an accident at a wellsite by producing graphic illustrations needed for a basic education and introduction of the pertinent equipment and terms in the case.

Patent Infringement

1.) EW#13967 reviewed the case of dispute over who was the true inventor of a drilling process after a patent was issued for that technique.

2.) EW#13967 reviewed extensive information on two companies' multilateral drilling processes to determine if the patent had been infringed upon. The engineering staff did extensive multilateral application studies and worked with an economist on economic projections (10-year span) to determine how significant a monetary setback the patent holder would have suffered.

3.) EW#13967 engineers were asked to answer technical questions in a patent case involving the alleged use of numerous patented well-treatment services by another company. The engineering team had to analyze well treatment service records to determine if the patent had been infringed upon.

4.) EW#13967 Engineers were asked to utilize their special expertise and knowledge in the subject matter of rotating blowout preventer equipment in a patent infringement case.

Health, Safety & Environmental

1.) Groundwater and soil contamination case that involved a site where oil & gas operations were located. EW#13967's engineers and litigation staff combined their ingenuity in the areas of petroleum engineering, geology, environmental science and geohydrology to resolve the case.

2.) A well blowout occurred while workers were trying to come out of a hole to make a bit change, when the well kicked. Workers tried to put the Kelly back on but were unsuccessful. When the well kicked, well was blowing sand, rocks and gas up through the crown and eventually ignited. A BOP installed on the well was not shut in. Plaintiff claimed foot injuries. Regulatory agency reported on defendant's right to dump waste material in specified area.


Team Qualifications:

Chairman and CEO

Texas A&M University, (BSME 1979), Registered Professional Engineer and lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Founder and CEO of Signa Engineering Corp. since 1992. Considered by many to be among the topmost Oil & Gas operations experts in the nation.

· Twenty-five plus years experience in Oil and Gas Operations, Domestic & International / Onshore & Offshore
· "Drilling Engineer of the Year" for 2003, the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ most prestigious drilling honor.
· Recognized pioneer in horizontal drilling technology and the application of project management techniques to unconventional drilling.
· Highly experienced in offshore operations including deepwater drilling.
· Great ability to adapt technology to current problems.
· Confirmed Expert Witness Testimony/Consultant for drilling and completion operations.


Executive Vice-President

· Twenty-seven plus years in the Oil and Gas Industry, Domestic & International / Onshore & Offshore.
· Drilling, completion and production engineering with extensive geographic, operations, and technology experience.
· Underbalanced and Managed Pressure Operations Specialist.
· Extensive experience in horizontal drilling and completion of new drills and re-entries.
· Extensive Unconventional Drilling experience in subnormal to abnormal pressured formations including sour gas environments. Drilling fluids used include WBM, OBM, air, nitrogen, natural gas, aerated fluids, foam, diesel and brines.
· Operations management of drilling and workover operations.
· Management of research and development programs for the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Gas Research Institute (GRI), and the Drilling Engineering Association (DEA).
· Development and delivery of domestic and international training in advanced drilling and completion technology.

Senior Operations Engineer

· Thirty-plus years in all phases of Oil & Gas Operations, Domestic & International / Onshore & Offshore.
· Extensive well site supervision with deep, hot, high-pressure, Mudcap, Underbalanced, horizontal Drilling Operations worldwide.
· Works with operators and service companies during equipment set-up activities; works closely with geologists, drilling superintendents and well site consultants on a day-to-day basis throughout drilling operations.
· Skilled in preparing well designs and completions, AFE implementation and budgeting processes.
· Property evaluation and associated reservoir engineering for property acquisitions in the Permian Basin.
· Domestic: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming.
· International: Algeria, Indonesia, Spain, Kazakhstan.


Client List:

AIG Claim Services, Inc.
Marathon Oil
Adams and Reese LLP
Stevenson & Ammons, LLC
Adams and Reese LLP
Stevenson & Ammons, LLC
DiCecco, Fant & Burman, L.L.P.
Bayko, Gibson, Carnegie, Hagan,
McGlinchey Stafford
Adams and Reese LLP
Bayko, Gibson, Carnegie & Hagan LLP,
Crutsinger & Booth
Vinson & Elkins, LLP
Culbreth & Munn
Schopf & Weiss
Fibich & Garth, P.C.
Meyer, Orlando & Evans, P.C.
Rush Johnson Associates
Tom L. Pettiette
Fitzgerald, Gartner & Follis
Baker & Hostetler LLP
Bayko, Gibson, Carnegie, Hagan,
Boswell & Hallmark
Rush Johnson Associates
Fleming Hovenkamp & Grayson
Fleming Hovenkamp & Grayson
Fleming Hovenkamp & Grayson
Guste, Barnett & Shusan
Bayko, Gibson, Carnegie, Hagan,
Bayko, Gibson, Carnegie, Hagan,
Bayko, Gibson, Carnegie, Hagan,
Small, Craig & Werkenthin
Fleming Hovenkamp & Grayson
Fleming Hovenkamp & Grayson
Cokinos, Bosien & Young
Royston, Razor, Vickery & Williams LLP
Royston, Razor, Vickery & Williams LLP
Steinburg, Carwile & Herzik
Carr & Storm, L.L.P.
Meyer, Orlando & Evans, P.C.
Alpine Oil Services
Thelen Reid & Priest LLP